Baht bus for the newbid

[Slope shredder]

So guys, 

Never having used one can you more experienced guys hell me out. 

Can you get on a baht bus any where or are there designated pick up and drop offs. 

Is there a route guide anywhere. 

I humbly look forward to your wisdom. 

[Mez89]

As they drive by, just wave one down. Hop in the back, ring the buzzer when you wanna get off and pay the driver. Usually 200+ to hire the bus like a private taxi(depending on distance) Hope that helps

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[Billy Shears]

90% of the time, the route they take is just straight ahead. So, if you catch one going down 2nd road, he just goes straight till the end of 2nd road in North Pattaya at the dolphin roundabout, next to terminal 21. If you catch one going east on central rd, he goes to Sukhumvit. The charge is 10 baht per person.

If you want to go somewhere else, try to flag down a empty one, and negotiate. I used to pay 100-120 from City garden condo on Soi 15 to home pro on central rd. They would ask for 200 and I would offer 100, if the first one I ask refuses I would just flag down another, I think there's 700 baht busses in Pattaya.

[bangna]

To head south go to Beach Rd, north go to 2nd Rd. Soi Boukhau they run both ways.

[ricktoronto]

1 hour ago, Slope shredder said:

So guys, 

Never having used one can you more experienced guys hell me out. 

Can you get on a baht bus any where or are there designated pick up and drop offs. 

Is there a route guide anywhere. 

I humbly look forward to your wisdom. 

Route 1 (2nd Rd./Beach Rd.) south on beach road from the roundabout,  then has to turn left (east) before Walking Street and stops at 2nd road or goes left (north) again and takes you north on 2nd road which is probably not your intention.

You normally get off at 2nd road, cross to the opposite corner and get a Route 2 bus to Jomtien.  After they store 6 Russians on each seat and 3 long armed hangers on the back. This then allows them to  go nearly 5 km/h for the first 20 blocks especially uphill on Thappraya.

Rarely this bus will turn right and keep going to Jomtien, passing all the people waiting at the school and irritating them by seeing someone go by without stopping at the school.  A rare bonus ride. 

Route 1A - from as far as Jomtien all the way down 2nd Road and at Klang it actually keeps going to the roundabout. The driver will often try to extort a 20B fare saying you are on it from Jomtien and you dared to cross Klang. From Jomtien, maybe that is a long ride for even 20B.

From the 3rd road overpass on Thappraya, hardly Jomtien and you should pay 10B. As I told a prickish driver on my ride from Thappraya Soi 2 to Soi 6. Not Jomtien, pal, nowhere close, here's your 10B.

Route 1B You might have been on it northbound on 2nd road and at the roundabout it then heads down the beach. Well it plans to do that. But many stop opposite Terminal 21 and then people board there to go down the beach. A good way to get 10B twice from people who boarded north of Klang and really wanted to go down Beach Road but the driver boots you off by stopping so you reboard to go south and pay again when it is now Route 1. You can try to stare him down by staying on the bus. He will counter that by having a cigar and coffee so you can see other buses leaving before he does. Not worth stretching that 10B. 

Also, riding this bus all the way up 2nd road just to then go down Beach Road is a time waster. You can stop on 2nd road and just walk down a soi (1-6 above Klang, 7-13 below Klang) to  Beach Road a hell of a lot faster than riding a BB the entire length of 2nd road. To go down to a Soi on Beach Road. So get off and walk you lazy wankers.

Route 1C That northbound 2nd road bus actually keeps going somewhere into the bowels of Naklua. And disappears from Earth. These buses have vanished and nobody knows where they are. 

Route 1D Random Route 1B buses northbound on 2nd road weirdly turn right at Pattaya Nua and head east towards 3rd road. Rare. Nothing much to see there so maybe disembark. 

Route 2 southbound from the queue of trucks opposite the school on 2nd road south of Pattaya Tai which takes you up Thappraya, past Pratumnak intersection (walk to Sugar Hut or Kinnaree) , past Thepprasit intersection, (shop at Food Mart or take the bus to the airport) down into Jomtien along Jomtien Beach Rd. ending at Chaiyapruek. Going uphill on Thappraya with 15 people on board, speed 3 km/h. Going downhill from Thepprasit , speed 110 km/h. 

One in 100 on Jomtien Beach Road keeps going to Na Jomtien, which is not the one you have selected if you want to go that far. For those, cross Chaiyapruek and bake like a spud for the 1% that will come by.

Do not be surprised if the bus you had to disembark from went around the block and comes back and you now pay again for the same bus after that wait to go to Na Jomtien.

Route 3 north up Soi Buakhao from a little collection of buses facing north at the Buakhao market near Pattaya Tai. Usually turns left at Klang (rarely right, if so, get off) and then maybe to Beach Road and back, southbound, thus becoming a shorter version of Route 1, or maybe it then turns right onto 2nd road north to Terminal 21. Becoming a northbound version of Route 1B, 1C or 1D starting at Klang heading northbound to Terminal 21 or even Naklua. (Remember you will disappear with the bus if you ride into Naklua so beware).

Route 4 south down Soi Buakhao and when it gets to Pattaya Tai the police will have determined (usually due to the market traffic jams) if it can turn right where it goes west to 2nd road and turns right again, or it's forced to turn left heading east towards 3rd road where you don't want to go and thus you and everyone else gets off and crosses Pattaya Tai to get one that does head west towards 2nd road.

And after that driver sorts out how and where he's turning around you may pay for the same bus again to go west to 2nd road. The Chaiyapruek strategy.

Just have a load of 5 and 10B coins and prepare to jump ship, cross a street and board in the right direction when a bus deviates from expected or desired directions. After about 5 hours in Pattaya you will have 10 kilos of coins collected. Always pay with the smallest ones first to keep your pants up fully. 10 1B are best, 5 2's, 2 5's and then a 10 in that order. Rarely pay with a 20 unless you have to because you will receive the tiniest coins back if the driver has an assistant keeping little piles of 1 and 2B coins handy. 

Get off when the driver stops. After you press the buzzer. 2 buzzers on each bus don't work so you have to frantically press others, which also don't work. Keep looking until one makes a noise.

At times, lately with the horrible slow traffic north on 2nd road you might ring the bell and get off in the street because it will otherwise take the driver 15 minutes to try to pull over left. Follow the lead of how Thais do it. Beach Road they always pull over to the left. Buakhao is so narrow they are already on the left side of the road. You will get off there and will always be near some charcoal stove cart emanating 200 degree heat right at you. 

Remember in major cities outside Pattaya a flag drop of a real taxi is probably close to 125-200B to go 100 metres/yards. So if you charter a BB for one trip (almost always 200B) it is maybe 15% more money than you pay at home to go door to door on the BB than it would cost in your home taxi to go the length of a football field, if that. 

If you are two people, a chartered BB is only about 40B more than two moto taxis driven by maniacal people who pass time drinking Thai hooch or using yaba to stay awake which is why I have never taken a moto taxi after one time. Let the TG you are with negotiate the price which after back and forth always seems to be 200 B for 1 km of 20 km.